Meeting Minutes 10/25/2010 Attendees: Barb Lias, Katie Estes, Ellie Hoffman, Tim Houseknecht, Jim Padlo, Jerry Trietley, Mary Schena, John White Absent: Rob Defazio, Joel Whitcher, Tracey Spears, Janet Ofano, Kim Martinelli
Start Time: 6:00
End Time: 7:30
We engaged a in great amount of discussion to determine which districts should be considered for site visits. We chose the follwoing districts based on locations and their configurations they currently run: East Irondoquois, Brighton, Cheektowaga, Maryvalle, Hornell, and Alden, possibly Bradford
We created a list of possible interview style questions we would like to ask at each school visit. These questions are being sent to the entire sub committee for editing / changes. They are as follows:
1. How does your community support your configuration?
2. Why did your district choose this configuration?
3. What type of transition activities do you have accross schools?
4. Did the transition bring about any changes in parental involvement?
5. How do your grade level teams collaborate?
6. What types of activities do you have in place regarding teacher collaboration accross buildings.
7. How has this configuration affected participation in after school activities?
8. What types of special education programs do hou have and how do the transitions from building to building affect them?
9. Are you able to provide teaming or innovative instruction practices? Please give examples.
It was suggested that we discuss the site visits with Dr. Taggerty before moving forward. Ellie will set up a brief meeting with her to discuss how to move forwards and make appointments.
We also discussed the research collected and asked for input on how we may present this in a way that is easy to read and present to the the full committee and board.
Meeting Minutes 9/27/2010
Attendees: Katie Estes, Ellie Hoffman, Barb Lias, Tim Houseknecht, Rob Defazio, Jim Padlo, Jerry Trietley
Absent: John White, Joel Whitcher, Mary Schena, Tracey Spears, Janet Ofano, Kim Martinelli
Start Time: 6:30
End Time: 7:40
Minutes:
Tim sent out the survey on Monday afternoon. He had a few results back, which we looked over. Tim and Jerry will contact LakeShore to find out more information about their recent research committee regarding moving grade 5 to the middle school.
The board has agreed to extend the time for the committee to gather research.
Barb stated that the high school most likely could accommodate the 8th grade, however not for 2 years due to the current building project.
Tim suggested setting up visits to some of the schools who responded to the survey. He also suggested identifying which schools most resemble Olean. Suggestions: Batavia, Jamestown
More research and topics were discussed. Please continue to send any research / data you come across to Ellie to summarize or upload on the wiki.
Tim will convert the excel spreadsheet he produced with various district information to a google page so people can input any information they may receive from contacting the districts. It will be on the wiki.
Plan:
Continue to collect data/research. We will continue to gather data from the survey. There is no follow up meeting scheduled at this time. We will schedule our next sub committee meeting at the large group meeting on Oct. 18th. If you have any questions or concerns in the meantime please contact Ellie.
*
Meeting Minutes 9/13/2010 Meeting time: 6:00-7:15
Attendees: Tracy Spears, Katie Estes, Jim Padlo, Mary Schena, Jerry Treitley, Tim Houseknecht, Ellie Hoffman, Joel Whitcher, Barb Lias
members not present: Rob Defazio, Kim Martinelli, John White, Janet Ofano, Chris Ofano
Members all discussed research collected. Consensus: most of the research states more research is needed on the topic- recommended collecting more data and research.
Tim Houseknecht generated a list of other schools in NYS near Olean with various configurations to use for collecting information. Jerry and TIm suggested sending an e-mail to the superintendents of the districts with a survey about their grade span configurations.
Tim will set up an electronic survey and will send it to committee members to edit this week. The following members agreed to get e-mail contacts for districts on the list to Tim by Thursday 9/16/10.
There were a lot of discussions regarding research collected and what it shows, and how to proceed.
Please continue to collect any data /research you can find to answer our questions generated at the previous meeting.
Next meeting: whole group on September 20th, 6:00 LGI OMS We will meet briefly to schedule follow up following the whole group meeting.
Educational Research Committee Meeting Notes 8/30/2010
Those in attendance: Jerry Trietley, Barbara Lias, Tim Houseknecht, Mary Schena, Tracey Spears, Katie Estes, Rob Defazio, Ellie Hoffman
Those absent: Jim Padlo, Joel Whitcher, John White
Meeting Start Time: 6:00
Meeting Adjourned : 8:00
Committee looked at developing an action plan to move forward and collect educational research
Jerry Trietley and Tracy Spears both had made contact with another school district with the proposed grade span configurations. They both received positive feedback, but stated that the districts contacted (Salamanca and Brighton) have had current configurations for quite some time and that is what the staff and community are used to. Tracey Spears asked about us possibly scheduling observations.
Tim Houseknecht spoke with Batavia, who currently has 3 PK-5 buildings. They are currently happy with their set up, but it is a possibility for their facilities committee to look into other options, such as this, in the future.
Tim Houseknecht suggested we combine our sub-committee wiki with the one created for the entire committee. Tim will transfer previous pages over. All members present agreed.
There was significant conversation to determine which direction the committee would like to go to find research. There was a great amount of conversation about our current set up and the proposed plan and how we could evaluate. There is a concern that we have a very short amount of time to gather information and make an informed recommendation to the Board of Education.
Tracey Spears shared an feasability study from another district and suggested a point system or matrix for research areas. We will look further into this when more research has been collected.
Tim Houseknecht suggested that we generate a list of questions related to education that we use to help guide or research. These questions will be answered by research collected by the group. Everyone agreed that this was a good direction to go.
The questions:
1. Does narrow / wide Grade Span Configurations affect test scores?
2. Does the number of transitions impact student achievement?
3. Is there any advantage or disadvantage to students academically at risk?
4. Is there any increase or decrease in discipline issues with the proposed plan?
5. Does grouping of grade levels increase cohesiveness of curriculum?
6. Does narrow vs. wide grade span impact attendance rates?
7. How does breaking up grade levels at elementary schools impact parent involvement?
8. Does the number of elementary schools vs. 1 consolidated elementary school impact student achievement?
9. Are social relationships affected by grade spans?
The questions are assigned as follows:
Questions 1,2,3 Tracey Spears, Mary Schena, Katie Estes, Jim Padlo
Questions 4,5,6 Barbara Lias, Jerry Trietley, Tim Houseknecht
Questions 7,8,9 Ellie Hoffman, Rob Defazio, Joel Whitcher, John White
If you find information regarding other questions you are not assigned to please feel free to post.
Next educational research sub-committee meeting will be held at 6:00 on Monday 9/13/2010 at the back room of OMS library
Attendees: Barb Lias, Katie Estes, Ellie Hoffman, Tim Houseknecht, Jim Padlo, Jerry Trietley, Mary Schena, John White
Absent: Rob Defazio, Joel Whitcher, Tracey Spears, Janet Ofano, Kim Martinelli
Start Time: 6:00
End Time: 7:30
We engaged a in great amount of discussion to determine which districts should be considered for site visits. We chose the follwoing districts based on locations and their configurations they currently run: East Irondoquois, Brighton, Cheektowaga, Maryvalle, Hornell, and Alden, possibly Bradford
We created a list of possible interview style questions we would like to ask at each school visit. These questions are being sent to the entire sub committee for editing / changes. They are as follows:
1. How does your community support your configuration?
2. Why did your district choose this configuration?
3. What type of transition activities do you have accross schools?
4. Did the transition bring about any changes in parental involvement?
5. How do your grade level teams collaborate?
6. What types of activities do you have in place regarding teacher collaboration accross buildings.
7. How has this configuration affected participation in after school activities?
8. What types of special education programs do hou have and how do the transitions from building to building affect them?
9. Are you able to provide teaming or innovative instruction practices? Please give examples.
It was suggested that we discuss the site visits with Dr. Taggerty before moving forward. Ellie will set up a brief meeting with her to discuss how to move forwards and make appointments.
We also discussed the research collected and asked for input on how we may present this in a way that is easy to read and present to the the full committee and board.
Meeting Minutes 9/27/2010
Attendees: Katie Estes, Ellie Hoffman, Barb Lias, Tim Houseknecht, Rob Defazio, Jim Padlo, Jerry Trietley
Absent: John White, Joel Whitcher, Mary Schena, Tracey Spears, Janet Ofano, Kim Martinelli
Start Time: 6:30
End Time: 7:40
Minutes:
Tim sent out the survey on Monday afternoon. He had a few results back, which we looked over. Tim and Jerry will contact LakeShore to find out more information about their recent research committee regarding moving grade 5 to the middle school.
The board has agreed to extend the time for the committee to gather research.
Barb stated that the high school most likely could accommodate the 8th grade, however not for 2 years due to the current building project.
Tim suggested setting up visits to some of the schools who responded to the survey. He also suggested identifying which schools most resemble Olean. Suggestions: Batavia, Jamestown
More research and topics were discussed. Please continue to send any research / data you come across to Ellie to summarize or upload on the wiki.
Tim will convert the excel spreadsheet he produced with various district information to a google page so people can input any information they may receive from contacting the districts. It will be on the wiki.
Plan:
Continue to collect data/research. We will continue to gather data from the survey. There is no follow up meeting scheduled at this time. We will schedule our next sub committee meeting at the large group meeting on Oct. 18th. If you have any questions or concerns in the meantime please contact Ellie.
*
Meeting Minutes 9/13/2010
Meeting time: 6:00-7:15
Attendees: Tracy Spears, Katie Estes, Jim Padlo, Mary Schena, Jerry Treitley, Tim Houseknecht, Ellie Hoffman, Joel Whitcher, Barb Lias
members not present: Rob Defazio, Kim Martinelli, John White, Janet Ofano, Chris Ofano
Members all discussed research collected. Consensus: most of the research states more research is needed on the topic- recommended collecting more data and research.
Tim Houseknecht generated a list of other schools in NYS near Olean with various configurations to use for collecting information. Jerry and TIm suggested sending an e-mail to the superintendents of the districts with a survey about their grade span configurations.
Tim will set up an electronic survey and will send it to committee members to edit this week. The following members agreed to get e-mail contacts for districts on the list to Tim by Thursday 9/16/10.
Katie/Tracy - Erie County, Gennesee
Ellie- Steuben, Chemung, Chautauqua, Cattaraugus
Mary- Niagara
There were a lot of discussions regarding research collected and what it shows, and how to proceed.
Please continue to collect any data /research you can find to answer our questions generated at the previous meeting.
Next meeting: whole group on September 20th, 6:00 LGI OMS
We will meet briefly to schedule follow up following the whole group meeting.
Educational Research Committee
Meeting Notes 8/30/2010
Those in attendance: Jerry Trietley, Barbara Lias, Tim Houseknecht, Mary Schena, Tracey Spears, Katie Estes, Rob Defazio, Ellie Hoffman
Those absent: Jim Padlo, Joel Whitcher, John White
Meeting Start Time: 6:00
Meeting Adjourned : 8:00
Committee looked at developing an action plan to move forward and collect educational research
Jerry Trietley and Tracy Spears both had made contact with another school district with the proposed grade span configurations. They both received positive feedback, but stated that the districts contacted (Salamanca and Brighton) have had current configurations for quite some time and that is what the staff and community are used to. Tracey Spears asked about us possibly scheduling observations.
Tim Houseknecht spoke with Batavia, who currently has 3 PK-5 buildings. They are currently happy with their set up, but it is a possibility for their facilities committee to look into other options, such as this, in the future.
Tim Houseknecht suggested we combine our sub-committee wiki with the one created for the entire committee. Tim will transfer previous pages over. All members present agreed.
There was significant conversation to determine which direction the committee would like to go to find research. There was a great amount of conversation about our current set up and the proposed plan and how we could evaluate. There is a concern that we have a very short amount of time to gather information and make an informed recommendation to the Board of Education.
Tracey Spears shared an feasability study from another district and suggested a point system or matrix for research areas. We will look further into this when more research has been collected.
Tim Houseknecht suggested that we generate a list of questions related to education that we use to help guide or research. These questions will be answered by research collected by the group. Everyone agreed that this was a good direction to go.
The questions:
1. Does narrow / wide Grade Span Configurations affect test scores?
2. Does the number of transitions impact student achievement?
3. Is there any advantage or disadvantage to students academically at risk?
4. Is there any increase or decrease in discipline issues with the proposed plan?
5. Does grouping of grade levels increase cohesiveness of curriculum?
6. Does narrow vs. wide grade span impact attendance rates?
7. How does breaking up grade levels at elementary schools impact parent involvement?
8. Does the number of elementary schools vs. 1 consolidated elementary school impact student achievement?
9. Are social relationships affected by grade spans?
The questions are assigned as follows:
Questions 1,2,3 Tracey Spears, Mary Schena, Katie Estes, Jim Padlo
Questions 4,5,6 Barbara Lias, Jerry Trietley, Tim Houseknecht
Questions 7,8,9 Ellie Hoffman, Rob Defazio, Joel Whitcher, John White
If you find information regarding other questions you are not assigned to please feel free to post.
Next educational research sub-committee meeting will be held at 6:00 on Monday 9/13/2010 at the back room of OMS library